(20 January 2015)  Over the first weekend of the U.S. national Figure Skating Championships, the Juvenile and Intermediate skaters took center stage in the opening events of the Championships.  With skaters entered spanning seven to eighteen years of age these events showed off the strengths and weaknesses of the developmental divisions within U.S. skating.

Just as it is in the senior ranks, the strongest events were the ice dancers, the youngest couple of which were the Soldatov siblings, Maria and Faddey at seven, and not quite nine years old.  At the otherr end of the age group were several skaters in pairs and dance in the 16-18 age group

What struck us most about the young dancers was the generally high quality of the skating skills (for skaters of these age group), and their ability to skate as a couple with spatial awareness and a relationship/connection between the skaters.  Overall the couples showed a good foundation for what skating as a dance couple was all about.

After the dancers, the next highest quality disciplines were the singles skaters.  Many of these skaters showed well crafted programs with good skating skills for their age.  A handful of the juveniles showed clean double Axels, and in intermediate we saw several skaters with clean triple toe loops and Salchows.  One Intermediate man even had a clean triple Lutz.  A decade ago this was the standard for Novice.  The new reality. however, is that the men need to pick up the triples sooner if they are to get to triple Axel by Junior and quads by Senior.  Another encouraging sign was to see better choreographic and presentations skills filtering down to the lower levels, with a few skaters in the high fours and fives for components.

At the other end of the spectrum, the pairs events make a strong case that the problem with the lack of U.S. competitiveness internationally in pairs starts at the very bottom of the pairs program; and if it is ever to be fixed, the solution must begin with the developmental levels.  Far too many of the Juvenile and Intermediate pairs looked like the partners had first met the day they competed.

While the majority of the young dance couples showed good skating skills for their ages, and skated like a couple, the majority of the pairs showed poor skating skills, poor spatial awareness, and rarely a trace of a relationship as a team or a hint of physical or emotional unison.  Why, we are left to wonder, are the young dancers at these levels able to pick up the fundamentals of skating as a couple while the pairs skaters of similar age, or a little older, are not.  Whatever the reason, if the impediments to developing young pairs skaters with strong pairs fundamentals are not corrected, the U.S. has little hope of becoming a credible force in International pairs competition in the upper divisions.